The Foundation for AIDS Research, also known as amfAR, has issued a call for proposals for its Therapeutic Immune Reprogramming in Cancer program. Awards are for $480,000 over two years.
Innovation can be bi-directional and reciprocal. Seminal findings in cancer immunology have also furthered understanding of HIV biology. To facilitate this reciprocal innovation, amfAR seeks proposals that investigate strategies to reprogram dysfunctional, suppressive, senescent, or otherwise ineffective immune states in cancer. More specifically, this Request for Proposals (RFP) is intended to support mechanistic, preclinical, and translational studies that test how anti-tumor immunity can be restored, redirected, or amplified in cancers shaped by chronic antigen exposure, viral oncogenesis, immune dysfunction, or highly immunogenic tumor biology.
The foundation is interested in proposals that explore one or more of the following areas:
- Reversal of dysfunctional or senescent immune states
- Reprogramming suppressive tumor microenvironments
- Selective expansion, recruitment, or activation of anti-tumor immune populations
- RNA-enabled and other targeted immune-modulatory approaches
- Epigenetic, transcriptional, or metabolic immune reprogramming
- Perturbation screens and target discovery (including computational modeling)
- Human-relevant models of immune reprogramming
- Combination immunotherapy strategies
Cancers of interest include HPV, EBV, KSHV/HHV-8, HBV, HCV, HTLV-1, lung, colorectal, and immunogenic hematologic malignancies (including myeloma). The foundation notes that the following outputs could be valuable: Biomarkers predictive of immune response; datasets that define cell state trajectories; computational methods, including those leveraging Artificial intelligence/Machine Learning approaches, that facilitate interpretation of dynamic immune states; biological targets relevant to immune dysfunction and rescue; and highly translational human models.
Interested individuals can submit a synopsis (i.e., LOI application) via the foundation’s online portal by June 29 by 3:00 p.m. EST. Invitations to submit a full application will be issued on July 13, with full applications due August 17; award notifications will be in the fall, with projects commencing on November 1.
Learn more here.